Floyd Mayweather Calls Conor McGregor 'Hell of a Competitor'

For the first time since Floyd Mayweather Jr. confirmed the Aug. 26 superfight versus Conor McGregor, Money commented on the highly anticipated bout. 

As seen in the following video courtesy of Black Sports Online, Mayweather expressed excitement for the upcoming fight while on the red carpet at Wednesday's All Eyez on Me premiere:

"People all around the world demanded this fight, so I had to give the people what they wanted to see," Mayweather said. "They asked for this fight. I was retired, but they wanted me back, and I'm back."

Per ESPN.com's Dan Rafael, UFC President Dana White told SportsCenter the bout will take place in Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena. Rafael noted it will air on Showtime pay-per-view.

When asked about the negotiations, Mayweather would only say that both sides were pleased with the way things went down: "Both parties are very happy. He's very happy, I'm very happy, and I can't wait."

Mayweather opted not to talk any trash to McGregor despite the fact that he largely built his career with verbal sparring, and he closed by calling the Irishman a "hell of a competitor."

McGregor didn't take long to prod Mayweather after the fight announcement, though, as he tweeted a photo of himself and Floyd Mayweather Sr. with the caption "THE FIGHT IS ON":

The 40-year-old Mayweather has been retired since beating Andre Berto in September 2015 and improving his career record to 49-0.

Despite that, he still has a significant upper hand since McGregor has never had a professional boxing match.

According to OddsShark, Mayweather is a minus-600 (17-100) favorite, while McGregor is a plus-400 (4-1) underdog.